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Leon McAuliffe’s E13?

E G# D F# G# B C# E (Low to high)

So I’ve been very curious about this tuning. And up to now I’ve been avoiding it (I’ve even tried it and abandoned it a few years ago) with the idea C6/A7 low F would be enough for me. And it is because there’s so much there to learn and use. Also because it’s not immediately approachable like a pure C6 tuning. It’s not strum-able in the way a C6 is when playing with a simple Hank William’s tune.

But the more I get into western swing and jazz the more I’m hearing things like dominant 7 chords and jazz phrasing that the E13 Leon tuning seems designed for.

And another challenge I’ve had up to recently was there was no instructional materials available online to get me going on this particular tuning.

So I started asking around on the Forum and the best solution became evident quickly. There’s a guy in my own backyard who I know but whom I didn’t realize specialized in this tuning: Bill Dye (seen above). So a couple messages and phone calls later, I get to sit down with Bill axe-to-axe. And it turned out he has a ton of self-penned tab for chords and arrangements! So, he demonstrates and walks me through some basic approaches for a couple of hours and my mind is blown! I came to the right place.

So now starts the homework. And below is a not-very-solid product of what is emerging from my early understanding of this tuning. It’s basically me trying to figure out Miles Davis’s All Blues head and regressing into a simpler blues. But hey, I’m particularly excited to get this far!